Citywide Longmont mosquito spraying begins

Follow-up effort tentatively planned for early next week

LONGMONT -- The city's mosquito contractor proceeded on Friday night with an emergency citywide spraying operation intended to reduce the risk of humans being bitten and exposed to West Nile virus.

Colorado Mosquito Control Inc., using as many as nine trucks equipped with ultra-low-volume pesticide fogging devices, began the spraying at about 9 p.m., starting with neighborhoods within city limits but on the inside edges of the city's boundaries.

The spraying was expected to be completed by 2 a.m. today.

Dan Wolford, the city's land program administrator, said on Friday afternoon that accommodations had been made to delay the trucks showing up in downtown Longmont before 10 o'clock Friday night. This month's downtown ArtWalk was scheduled for 6:30 to 9 p.m., and post-ArtWalk cleanup work was expected to last until about 10.

Wolford said spraying also was to be delayed for the city streets near Garden Acres Park, 2058 Spencer St., until after a softball tournament there that was expected to conclude about 10:30 p.m. Friday.

A second follow-up citywide spraying effort has tentatively been scheduled for 9 p.m. Monday through 2 a.m. Tuesday. The decision whether to proceed with Monday night's spraying will depend on the numbers of still-alive mosquitoes captured on Sunday and collected from traps at 11 locations throughout Longmont.

Boulder County, meanwhile, had its mosquito control contractor, OtterTail Environmental Inc., proceed with the Thursday night spraying of the Boulder County Fairgrounds northeast of Hover Street and Nelson Road, as well as about a one-mile-wide buffer of unincorporated areas outside Longmont's southern, western and northern boundaries.

Advertisement

Both the county's and the city's contractors are spraying Aqualuer 20-20, a permethrin-based pesticide. City officials have said that while permethrin poses minimal threat to humans and animals -- at the levels being sprayed and the fogging process used to spray the mist -- people could take additional precautions by staying indoors and keeping their pets inside, while the spraying is underway.

The city advised people to close their windows and turn off window-unit air conditioners when spraying is taking place in their neighborhood. Officials said people shouldn't let children play near or behind the truck-mounted applicators, and should consult their own physicians for additional precautions if those people or members of their families suffer from chemical sensitivities or feel spraying might aggravate a pre-existing health condition.

Earlier this week, based on the results of the past two weeks of sampling mosquitoes captured in Longmont traps, Boulder County Public Health recommended that the city conduct the emergency spraying operation.

A number of Longmont residents have raised concerns about the spraying and the impact the chemicals in the pesticide could have on health of people, pets, honeybees, other insects and animals, and the effects on the environment.

Chana Goussetis, a spokeswoman for the county health department, said in an email Friday that "we understand the concern about mosquito spraying and take the decision to spray very seriously. Mosquito spraying uses an ultra-low-volume mist at levels set to be toxic to mosquitoes and not humans."

County officials said more information about West Nile virus, mosquito control, and the testing and safety of the pesticide being used is available online through links on BoulderCountyMosquito.net.

Local duo joining overseas exhibition excursionFilippo Swartz went to Italy, where his mother was born and he spent the first year or so of his life, every summer until he had to stick around to be a part of summer football activities for the Longmont High School team. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story